Why most women carry babies on their left side

THE next time you’re holding your baby while you walk around the house, take notice, are you holding them to your left?

Science says most of us are and the reason why is fascinating, according to Kidspot.

More…

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Then why would left handed people do it?

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

That would be my guess. Dominant & more dexterous.
I tend to hold babies on my right, but then, I’m a leftie.

from the article

“The position of an infant on the mother’s left side may optimise maternal monitoring, by directing sensory information predominantly to the mother’s right hemisphere.”

Tamb said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

That would be my guess. Dominant & more dexterous.
I tend to hold babies on my right, but then, I’m a leftie.

You are also a male.

Having read this particular article… well, sure, OK. If they say so.

FTR I am right handed and normally carry Little Miss on my right. I assume it’s because my right arm is the strongest, but I’ve never really thought about it.

roughbarked said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Then why would left handed people do it?

It’s a righthanded world, Doors, lightswitches etc are more easily operated with the right hand.

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

I have read the article. It didn’t give any details of how they tested he hypothesis (that carrying on the left side makes the right side of the brain “light up”, and that’s good for baby bonding), but I hope they have some good evidence for dismissing the DA hypothesis.

They also say males who aren’t fathers do not exhibit this left side preference. I’m very skeptical about that one.

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

That would be my guess. Dominant & more dexterous.
I tend to hold babies on my right, but then, I’m a leftie.

You are also a male.

True. So it’s a gender based study.

roughbarked said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Then why would left handed people do it?

How do you know they do?

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Then why would left handed people do it?

It’s a righthanded world, Doors, lightswitches etc are more easily operated with the right hand.

depends if you are going in or coming out..

when leaving my house, open door with right hand, turn lights off with left.
when entering, open door with left hand, turn lights on with right

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

I have read the article. It didn’t give any details of how they tested he hypothesis (that carrying on the left side makes the right side of the brain “light up”, and that’s good for baby bonding), but I hope they have some good evidence for dismissing the DA hypothesis.

They also say males who aren’t fathers do not exhibit this left side preference. I’m very skeptical about that one.

how dare you question the scientific credibility of Kidspot….

:P

stumpy_seahorse said:

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Then why would left handed people do it?

It’s a righthanded world, Doors, lightswitches etc are more easily operated with the right hand.

depends if you are going in or coming out..

when leaving my house, open door with right hand, turn lights off with left.
when entering, open door with left hand, turn lights on with right

I’ll have to check other houses. I designed my place to be short, lefthanded friendly.

stumpy_seahorse said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

I have read the article. It didn’t give any details of how they tested he hypothesis (that carrying on the left side makes the right side of the brain “light up”, and that’s good for baby bonding), but I hope they have some good evidence for dismissing the DA hypothesis.

They also say males who aren’t fathers do not exhibit this left side preference. I’m very skeptical about that one.

how dare you question the scientific credibility of Kidspot….

:P

Maybe it’s because the baby is lighter than their handbag.

Tau.Neutrino said:

Why most women carry babies on their left side

THE next time you’re holding your baby while you walk around the house, take notice, are you holding them to your left?

Science says most of us are and the reason why is fascinating, according to Kidspot.

More…

Haven’t even looked at the article but surely it is because most women are right handed.

Tamb said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

Tamb said:

It’s a righthanded world, Doors, lightswitches etc are more easily operated with the right hand.

depends if you are going in or coming out..

when leaving my house, open door with right hand, turn lights off with left.
when entering, open door with left hand, turn lights on with right

I’ll have to check other houses. I designed my place to be short, lefthanded friendly.

our lounge sliding door is left hand in, right hand out, the kitchen sliding door is right hand out, left hand in, the back door is right hand out, left hand in, so all doors here are left handed coming in, right going out…

dv said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Why most women carry babies on their left side

THE next time you’re holding your baby while you walk around the house, take notice, are you holding them to your left?

Science says most of us are and the reason why is fascinating, according to Kidspot.

More…

Haven’t even looked at the article but surely it is because most women are right handed.

can’t speak for all women, but Shazza does it because she keeps her winnie blues in her right arm sleeve…

bit like you hold the nail with your left hand (fingers), and bang the thing in with your right

we’ve all done it, not got it right. Not sure what hemisphere that gets directed to, whatever it hurts. I reckon the two hemispheres chat with each other about it, anyway.

Okay, I am bracing myself to find out what News.com says Science says about this. Will report back but if I do not return, go on with your lives.

On the other hand I’ve always thought it strange that in stringed instruments the intricate fingering work is done by the left hand, whereas the bowing is done by the right hand.

Maybe this right brain thing explains that one.

dv said:

Okay, I am bracing myself to find out what News.com says Science says about this. Will report back but if I do not return, go on with your lives.

I’ll wait to see what the Daily Mail has to say about it, thanks all the same.

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Then why would left handed people do it?

It’s a righthanded world, Doors, lightswitches etc are more easily operated with the right hand.

This be true to be sure to be sure.

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

Tamb said:

That would be my guess. Dominant & more dexterous.
I tend to hold babies on my right, but then, I’m a leftie.

You are also a male.

True. So it’s a gender based study.

In the case of that article, yes.

Here’s the actual Nature article.

http://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-016-0030

The article is not particularly about humans. It concerns left-favouring nurturing in a range of animals including some that do not show any strong “handedness”.

Obv, it will be good to wait for any rebuttals and analsys but I can’t find anything particularly unsound in here. I could ask that they provide more specific proof that the cause is hemispheric specialisation, rather than (for instance) internal asymmetry within the torso.

If we wanted to make an evolutionary “just so” story about this, we could say that brain asymmetry is a very deep mammalian property, and that this leads to left-nurturing being evolutonarily favoured, and in turn this has meant that strong right-handedness has been favoured in more dexterous animals like the big apes.

The Rev Dodgson said:

roughbarked said:

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Then why would left handed people do it?

How do you know they do?

I don’t. I’m just saying like, the article seemed to be of the same ilk.

Also, note that much that was in the News.com article was not mentioned in the Nature article: nothing about fathers and non-father males etc. So I don’t know where they got that from.

There was the photo of the author’s back too.

Divine Angel said:

I haven’t read this particular article, however I thought it was to leave the right hand free as the right is usually dominant.

Ditto.